Sunday, February 10, 2013

Calendars, Astrology, Cycles, Time

"The astrological system based on the cycle of the twelve years and the 5 elements was known in Shang Shung, Tibet, Oddiyana since ancient times. Hidden points refers to the specific element, 'mewa', or 'parka' of each of the 360 days of the year and to the various classes of beings that control them. Their influence on the la, 'authentic presence', and lungta of a person and the way to enhance the positive aspects (cha) and eliminate the negative." (Norbu: 1968..pg 148)...

"Losar (Tibetan: ལོ་གསར་, Wylie: lo-gsar) is the Tibetan word for "new year". lo holds the semantic field "year, age"; sar holds the semantic field "new, fresh". Losar is the most important holiday in Tibet and Kingdom of Bhutan...The Tibetan calendar is made up of twelve lunar months and Losar begins on the first day of the first month....Because the Uyghurs adopted the Chinese calendar, and the Mongols and Tibetans adopted the Uyghur calendar, Losar occurs near or on the same day as the Chinese New Year and the Mongolian New Year, but the traditions of Losar are unique to Tibet, and predates both Indian and Chinese influences. Originally, ancient celebrations of Losar occurred solely on the winter solstice, and was only moved to coincide with the Chinese and Mongolian New Year by a leader of the Gelug school of Buddhism..The translation of the Buddhist Kalachakratantra in the second half of the 11th century AD marked the beginning of a complete change for the calendar in Tibet......The celebration of Losar predates Buddhism in Tibet and can be traced back to the pre-Buddhist Bön period."....http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Losar

"Tenzin Wangyal (2002: p.xvii) frames his experience of Tibetan cultural practice of Losar in relation to elemental celebrations and offerings to Nāga (Tibetan: Klu):.....During Losar, the Tibetan celebration of the new year, we did not drink champagne to celebrate. Instead, we went to the local spring to perform a ritual of gratitude. We made offerings to the nagas, the water spirits who activated the water element in the area. We made smoke offerings to the local spirits associated with the natural world around us. Beliefs and behaviors like ours evolved long ago and are often seen as primitive in the West. But they are not only projections of human fears onto the natural world, as some anthropologists and historians suggest. Our way of relating to the elements originated in the direct experiences by our sages and common people of the sacred nature of the external and internal elements. We call these elements earth, water, fire, air, and space."....http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Losar

"Chinese New Year usually falls on the second new moon after the winter solstice In China, New Year celebrations traditionally ran from Chinese New Year's Day itself, the first day of the first month of the Chinese calendar, to the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first month, making the festival the longest in the Chinese calendar. Because the Chinese calendar is lunisolar, the Chinese New Year is often referred to as the "Lunar New Year"....Chinese years are numbered from the reign of the Yellow Emperor... the year beginning in 2013 AD the "Chinese Year" 4711."....http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_New_Year

Nowrūz is the name of the Iranian/Persian New Year in Iranian calendars and the corresponding traditional celebrations. Nowruz is celebrated and observed by Iranian peoples and the related cultural continent and has spread in many other parts of the world, including parts of Central Asia, Caucasus, South Asia, Northwestern China, the Crimea and some groups in the Balkans. Nowruz marks the first day of spring and the beginning of the year in Iranian calendar. It is celebrated on the day of the astronomical Northward equinox, which usually occurs on March 21 or the previous/following day depending on where it is observed. Since the Achaemenid era the official year has begun with the New Day when the Sun leaves the zodiac of Pisces and enters the zodiacal sign of Aries.....http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nowruz

FUTURE: Buddhist philosophy says that the future is vacant rather than prearranged. Future means nothing has happened yet. Everything, as far as it exists, is in the present situation. The potential of the future is in the present moment. One can develop a tremendous feeling of spaciousness because the future is completely open.

The earliest Egyptian calendar was based on the moon's cycles, but later the Egyptians realized that the "Dog Star" in Canis Major, which we call Sirius, rose next to the sun every 365 days, about when the annual inundation of the Nile began. Based on this knowledge, they devised a 365 day calendar that seems to have begun in 4236 BCE (Before the Common Era), which thus seems to be one of the earliest years recorded in history.

DRUIDS...."harmonized the solar and lunar years by means of a nineteen year cycle which was also known in Greece as the cycle of Meton." (Ashe: 1990..pg 122)

ANNO DOMINI (AD)...was allotted to in 525 AD by a monk named Dionysius. Before AD dating became standard there was an older Christian method which had a different starting point of 28 years." (Geoffrey Ashe: 1985..pg 99)

MAYANS...'held that the patterns of history were repeated in cycles of 13 katun (katun = 20 years).' (Hawkes: 1962..pg 141)..

"The Saptarsi calculations reached back to 6177 BC, originating in the Loka Kala." (Thomas: 1952..pg 113)...

"In the Kalachakra tradition, the soul (bla-gnas) resides at the bottom of the left foot (men), or right foot (women) at the new moon. Then it rises higher each day, residing at the top of the head on the full moon. Then returns." (Stein: 1972..pg 226)...

SOLAR RADIO WAVES... eleven year cycle. 4-6 years to build up to a climax and 6-7 years to return to their minimum. (Hawkes: 1962..pg 26)

SAROS..."the cycle of 18 years in which eclipses of the sun and moon repeat themselves." (Hawkes: 1962..pg 213)...

"The selection of the year 1025 AD (1027) as the initial year in the Indian and Tibetan reckonings is based on the 60 year cycle of Jupiter." (Thomas: 1952..pg 113)...

SIGNS..."Two different orders for the representation of the signs are used on the Mithraic monuments. One is eastern and the other western. The western order runs clockwise and begins at the left side. This requires a southern orientation on the part of the observer. The eastern order requires an eastern or northern orientation on the part of the observer. (Campbell: 1968 pg 49)..

ZODIAC..."On dating the origin of the Zodiac, see Otto Neugebauer: "The Exact Sciences in Antiquity." The Babylonian Marduk created stations for the great gods, the stars their likenesses." (Campbell: 1968 pg 46)...

ARIES..."On Mithraic monuments, the sign of the vernal equinox (aries) begins the Zodiac series." (Campbell: 1968..pg 46)..."The Age of Aries (2nd-1st Millenium BC) which is the sign of the Sun's exhaltation and Mars rulership. The Aries prophets were fighters. (eg: Moses)"..(Godwin: 1981)...

SAGGITARIUS..."the Archer's shooting has to do with the release of water from the sky in which is the Aqua Vitae." (Campbell: 1968..pg 252)...

SCORPIO..."The ancient Scorpio month of the Zodiac would approximate the Mithra month in the Persian calendar, which was the beginning of autumn, the more ancient form of the sign being an Archer-Scorpion." (Campbell: 1968..pg 26)...

LIBRA..."the Balance was formed out of the shears or claws of the scorpion to mark the autumn equinox." (Campbell: 1968..pg 46)

CANCER...(karkinos) was taken to mark the northern turning point of the sun. (Campbell: 1968..pg 46)...

"In the 2nd century BC, Taurus, Scorpio, Leo and Acquarius marked the months in which the equinoxes and solstices occurred. Currently they are the months following. (Campbell: 1968 pg 46)...

OCTOBER...."The festival of Mithra, the Mithrakana (modern Mihrigan) was the celebration of the autumn equinox. The present month of Mihr (October) is named after the god Mithra." (Curtis: 1993..pg 14)...

FESTIVALS..."the four principle festivals of the Persian year were determined by the solar calendar. The solstices and equinoxes, the greatest being the summer solstice." (Hawkes: 1962..pg 133)

"ALTAI....the Altain Huns had the custom of assembling three times a year in moon ceremonies, when on the 1st, 5th, and 6th moons they made offerings to the spirit of the sky." (Rudenko: 1970..pg 290)...

CELTS..."the May Day Beltane Fires of Celtic lands came from Indo-European traditions....

DECEMBER 25th...the day of the winter solstice (ancient Persia) when the Brumalia was celebrated, the feast of the birth of the Unconquered Sun. Easter was the Sunday following the first full moon after vernal equinox...(Hawkes: 1962)..."The birth of Mithras from the Cosmic Egg. The first born god of light. The world egg representss one cosmic cycle. Born at the winter solstice (Dec 25th), the sign of Capricorn. The celebration was of Mithras on December 25th was the origin of western Christmas." (Godwin:1981..pg 98)...

ROMAN...."Emperor Julian:: 'before the beginning of the year, at the end of the month called Kronos, we celebrate the festival dedicated to the invincible sun." (Hawkes: 1962..pg 263)...

SIRIUS...Dog Star

CHALDEANS...Chaldean preists introduced the concept of the constellations used today in Western astrology. 800 BC

NUMEROLOGY....(3, 9, 13, 33, 108, 360)"the number 9 in the pre-Buddhist tradition was like the number 13, a perfect number." (Hoffman: 1975..pg 96)..."360 days of the year, 12 year cycle, 15 th day (essence of the secret moon)...."In the Kabala, the earliest book of Jewish magic ('Sefer Yetzira') explains creation as a process involving the 10 divine numbers (sefirot)."..(Encyclopedia Britannica)..."In Shinto, the word 'ya' means eight and at the same time means many and holy. 8, 80, 800,000 and 8 million are all numbers used to express the number of the gods."..(Jinja: 1958..pg 15)....Marpa designed a tower with nine stories...."the Mewa numbers (sme khor) are characteristic positive or negative signs that recur invariably and with periodic consistency during time cycles. They are the numbers from 1-9. Beyond nine is zero (emptiness)."..(Norbu: 1995..pg 153)..."the 33rd year after death.' (Kunio: 1970..pg 117)....

TIME..."The palace of the imperial rulers of Shambhala, the Rigdens, is called Kalapa. (Kalapa (Sanskrit) kala=time, pa=working with) (Trungpa: 1984..pg 26)...."Nowness, or the magic of the present moment, is what joins the wisdom of the past with the present. When corruption enters a culture, it is because that culture ceases to be be now." (Trungpa: 1984..pg 91 & 96)...." a Wheel of Time year is the length of time in a 100 year period that the pristine wisdom aspect is accumulated." (Kongtrul: 1995..pg 165)..."Time, or the temporal sequence, comes into existence only through the operations of the mind (The process of mental consciousness: yid kyi rnam shes)." (Reynolds: 1996..pg 122)...."Both the Kalavada and Kalachakra systems were connected with belief in a time wheel. There also are striking similarities with the Zervanit tradition of ancient Persia, where the ability to understand time was the essence of their spiritual practice." (Kharatidi: 1996..pg 217)..."Zurvan (Zurvan i akanarag: Boundless Time) was the Persian God of Time". (Hoffman: 1975..pg 107)...'time is something created by the mind and exists only in terms of the reflections, not in the condition of the mirror, itself." (Reynolds: 1996..pg 154)...."the minds' last moment is the most important" (Wangyal: 1993..pg 199)...."At the edge of time, from the mountain of Kailasha, from the city arranged by the gods, will come the army of the Universal Emperor (Sk: Cakravartin)..(Bernbaum: 1980..pg 287)..."If you ask me what time is, I don't know the answer. If you don't ask me, I do." (St Augustine)..."There is no more commonplace statement than that the world in which we live is a four-dimensional continuum.' (Einstein)...Three times (dus gsum): past, present, future..."not solar days of 24 hours, because in the intrinsic nature (t: cho nyi...sk: dharmata) we have gone completely beyond all limits such as time and space."..(Sogyal: 1992..pg 279)..."Outer time is definitely classified just as the Protector of the World [taught]."... (Kongtrul: 1995..pg 274)..."In Shinto, the term naka-ima means literally, middle-now, which means the present, in the middle between past and future. This expression contains a meaning of blessing on the present."...(Jinja:1958..pg 23)..."Some maintained that the primeval principle was time, but according to others it was space."..(Karmay: 1975..pg 194)....."A white hole is a time reverse of a black hole. Time goes at different rates for different observers. Horizontal real time, imaginary time, space time."..(Hawkens: Brief History of Time)....

THREE TIMES...."the Bhojakas know the prescriptions of the Five Ritual times of the day and are worshippers of time (kala). The practice of the three times is ascribed to in the Bhojaka Taraka in the Harsacarita. They carry out the ablutions of the three (prescribed soma libations) times of the day."..(Acta: 1978..pg 248)...

ROOSTER...."Fire, the dog, and the cock were considered the three protectors. In 600 BC the Rooster penetrated from Persia into the Altai." (Rudenko: 1970)...

DECEMBER 25th..."Aurelian worshipped the sun-god Mithras and established Dec 25th as the birthday celebration of Mithras." (Vermaseren: 1963..pg 187)...

HOUR OF THE HORSE....."At noon, the south door opens and the 'horse' comes out. 12 hours, 12 animals." (Page 48...Forte, Antonio..."Mingtang and Buddhist Utopias in the History of the Chinese Astronomical Clock"...1988)

SHANG SHUNG..."In ancient times the astrological system based on the cycle of the 12 years and the 5 elements was known in Shang Shung and Oddiyana ...(Norbu:1995...pg 150)...

TIBETAN ASTROLOGY...."28 constellations according to Tibetan astrology" (Norbu: 1995...pg 149)..."In the Tibetan astrological series there are 360 methods of horoscopy, for each of the 36o days of the year and to each of the various classes of beings (lha, lu, nyen, etc) that control them. These beings have influence on the la, life force (srog), wang-thang, and lungta of a person. There are ways to enhance the positive aspects and eliminate the negative." (Norbu: 1995...pg 149)...

KALPA...."According to ancient Indian philosophical theories, a kalpa is an extremely long period of time, amounting to over 4 billion years." (Norbu: 1995..pg 245)...

IRANIAN CALENDAR..."From ancient times the Iranians had a 12 month calendar with 30 days. 30 calendar divinities. the 16th day and the 7th month (Oct-Nov) was Mithra." (Boyce: 1984...pg 19)...